Main navigation

Asus Zenpad 3S 10 Extended Review

The Asus Zenpad 3S 10 is a seriously solid performer that punches convincingly far above its price point. While also being extremely easy on the eyes and packing enough goodies to make every day feel like Christmas.

If you are in the market for a splendidly delish tab that very seldom disappoints and is surprisingly affordable, then look no further than the Asus Zenpad 3S 10. It is a marvelous combo of all the big and beautiful things we all love about tech, along with a charming appeal that boldly scratches at the mighty front doors of Olympus itself. With its new Tab, Asus shows all the signs and determination to take the endless tablet battle to the streets and doors of the unholy couple- Apple and Samsung. The Asus Zenpad 3S 10 is just the perfect way to spoil your eyes silly this Yuletide without giving your bank account a back eye. And oh does it deliver the goods!

Real estate screen space is a spacious 9.7-inch, possessing of a totally rad IPS design that outputs 2048 x 1536. Along with an extremely generous 178-degree viewing angle and a 78% screen to body ratio. The look too is 100% premium, seriously underlying the extremely reasonable price tag. Plastic makes no appearance anywhere as the tab comes wrapped in sleek aluminum and diamond-cut chamfered edges that assure a steady, finger-loving grip always. Weight is just 15.2 ounces and about average for the class. While overall thickness comes to a frighteningly anorexic 0.2 inches. At the device top, you get a trusty old headphone jack, while a volume and lock button duo sit pretty on the right side. Complemented by a memory card slot on the left, and a USB Type-C on the curvy bottom, along with dual speakers. OS is the Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Asus’ own ZenUI slapped on top. Cameras are an 8MP on the upper left corner of the back, along with a 5MP sibling at the front. The battery is a 5,900 mAh sealed beast that gloriously ensures the fun never stops, or that you ever get bored.

Under the sleek hood lurks a hexacore Mediatek MT 8176 that sprints at 2.1 GHZ, along with 4 GB of RAM and a Power VR GX 6250 graphical processor. All the usual connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, Gyroscope and other shy others do put in an appearance. Along with 64 GB of internal storage, which is readily expandable to 128 GB if needed via any trusty SD card. Inside the box, you get:

The Asus Zenpad 3S 10

A USB Type-C cable

AC power adapter

Cardboard stand

Warranty card

SD card removal tool

User guide

First, let me commend the design team of the tablet on a job rather excellently done. They indeed went far and above the call of duty in crafting such a stylishly eye-candy masterpiece. And if looks were the sole thing to judge by, then the tablet has more than earned its price twice over. It is quite simply magnificent to look at. Turn it on though and prepare to get blown far far away as its IPS display easily rivals the best from the stables of the AMOLED clan. Colors are beautifully vivid, as is the contrast and brilliance. Which never failed to amaze whether I was watching movies or browsing the endless wonders of the web. Default settings were absolutely satisfactory, but can be tweaked for your individually unique tastes too if desired via the included Asus Splendid app. The screen too was amazingly and almost frighteningly responsive to commands, while being capable of being double-tapped to wake it up from its beauty sleep. Or have a previously designated letter drawn on it to teleport you right into the midst of any app in locked screen mode. Which I found to be singularly effective and convenient as sliced bread. Additionally, the home button does double duty as a fingerprint scanner, with the capability of registering up to 5 prints. Apart from providing a secure way to lock up your priced gadget, it proved Flash-fast and supremely effective in opening up my bigly beauty.

With its eminently respectable specs and hence brute lifting power and hefty RAM, browsing was always light-fast and superbly thrilling. Never once did I experience a stutter or lag even with multiple apps chattering happily in the background. Game performance was similarly excellent, though heavily graphics-laden games may take a while to load up and let you save the world all by your sweet lonesome.

Audio from the dual 5-magnet speakers packs more than enough punch and clarity to make any serious audiophile burst into tears of joy, apart from being and sounding richer than any 5-course meal at the Hilton. No matter the volume level or the music I was playing, muddiness or distortion never dared put in an appearance which was simply amazing. The overall performance is boomingly jaw-dropping, with support for Hi-Res playback enabled.

Cameras on the tab are one of the few points of complaint and unspectacular in action to say the least. While possessing plenty of options as well as a manual mode to play with, I wouldn’t bother to do that if I were you. Unless of course, you want to be heartbroken rather fast, with washed out pictures filled with noise. On a sunny day though outdoors, you might get lucky and take adequate footage, so keep your fingers crossed and keep trying.

Battery runtime proved totally respectable and I often found it unnecessary to recharge after a whole day of medium-heavy usage. The tab is indeed a beast and expected to wear out your eyes first watching movies and playing games before running out of juice. Charging up though takes a rather longish 3 plus hours minimum, which is rather confusing with the tab rocking a USB Type-C charging point.

Available colors are titanium gray with black bezels, as well as glacial silver with white bezels-my choice incidentally. Price is a totally reasonable $300, and for that you get a whole lot of goodies you would have to pay through the nose for otherwise if you went with another device.

The Asus Zenpad 3S 10 is a superb all rounder that absolutely delights, enthralls and surprises. Astoundingly affordable, extremely usable and beautiful enough to unashamedly take home to mama, it is just the thing to urgently put near the top of your Christmas wish list.